[mgj-discuss] CAFTA is coming!

[morriganp at riseup.net]

Everyone in the greater DC area! The Central American Free Trade Agreement 
(CAFTA) is Coming To Washington DC December 8th-16th!  Below you will find 
a list of all the planned actions planned during the week by various local 
groups.  For more background on CAFTA see the bottom of this e-mail.  
First
the logistics: The CAFTA negotiations are happening at the Mayflower 
Hotel in downtown Washington DC. The address is 1127 Connecticut Ave NW, 
Washington DC, 
at the corner of Connecticut and L.   

Sunday Dec. 7th 10:30am
Sign Making party at Malcolm X Park 
16th and Euclid NW
(Columbia Heights Metro Station Green Line)
Bring supplies if you have them to donate!

Central America is Not For Sale! 
Rally against the FTAA and CAFTA 
SAVE THE DATE: Washington, DC December 7, 12-2:00 Malcolm X (Meridian) 
Park, 16th and Euclid NW 
The rally is at 12:00 and the march starts at 2:00!
(Columbia Heights Metro Station Green Line)

Get involved - help with outreach - e-mail Dave Johnson at Share 
Foundation - dave at share-foundation.org, or Tom Ricker with the Quixote 
Center, tomr at quixote.org

ANTI-CAFTA AIR FORCE AND NOISE ACTION 
When: Tuesday, 9AM December 9th
What: Protest CAFTA talks 
Where: Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, 1127 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC, 
at the corner of Connecticut and L. 

Bring your noisemakers and your paper airplanes! Come on out and let ‘em 
know loud and clear how you feel about CAFTA!

ALL WEEK LONG! DAILY PICKETS OUTSIDE THE HOTEL FROM 12-1

Each day of the week a different group will be coordinating a picket in 
front of the Mayflower. What do you need to do to participate? Just show 
up! It’s that easy.  Come with signs, songs, banners, puppets and spirit.  

Meet everyday in front of the hotel on the Connecticut side at Noon.  For 
more info, if you have ideas, or want to offer to help get in touch with: e-
mail Dave Johnson at Share 
Foundation - dave at share-foundation.org, or Tom Ricker with the Quixote 
Center, tomr at quixote.org
  
Monday: Mobilize for Global Justice will have puppets and banners.  If you 
would like to help get in touch with morriganp at riseup.net

Tuesday: Noise action (see above)

Wednesday: Nicaragua Network
	       There is also an official CAFTA press conference at noon at 
the hotel!
Thursday: Everyone!

Friday: Witness for Peace

Saturday: Quixote Center
CAFTA is a trade agreement being negotiated by government representatives 
from United States and the Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and 
Nicaragua. It is modeled after the North American Free Trade Agreement 
(NAFTA). U.S. President Bush has voiced his support for CAFTA and hopes to 
have an agreement sealed as quickly as possible, in part to move the Free 
Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations forward faster. 
CAFTA is NAFTA Extended to Central America
All the same issues human and labor rights organizations have with NAFTA 
(and FTAA) are present in CAFTA, including:
Secrecy Instead of Transparency: No formal public input or oversight in the 
negotiations.
Corporate Domination Over Democracy: At the expense of democracy and 
people's right to self-rule, CAFTA would likely give corporations powers to 
object to barriers to free trade, including laws people enact for their own 
protection. For example, NAFTA established the right for companies to sue 
governments over public-interest laws that may limit their profits. This 
right has been employed 27 times by companies since 1994.
Increased Inequality: A minority of rich companies and wealthy stockholders 
will benefit from reduced costs. The poor will get poorer and more people 
will move into poverty: workers will get lower pay and lose their jobs 
while shouldering higher costs of living as more services are privatized.
Disappearing Public Services: Resources such as education, health care, 
energy, and water utilities owned by everyone in a community will more 
likely become owned by corporations. This could put essential public 
services out of the hands of many people. For example, When Bolivia 
privatized its water utility, water rates increased 200 percent, leading to 
riots that resulted in six deaths.
Reduced Labor Rights: Labor laws such as those that protest worker's safety 
can also be challenged and the "race to the bottom" for pay will likely 
hurt workers in all countries involved in CAFTA.
Negative Agricultural Impact: Increased corporate domination of farms and 
possible devastation of family farms and farmers in the US and Central 
America.
Environmental Destruction: Environmental laws are just one types of 
barriers to trade that can be gutted. This decreases costs to companies but 
increases costs to local communities which suffer more health problems as a 
result of pollution